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In the end, they had what they wanted: they arrived in the German city of Leipzig by the tens of thousands, collectively ignored the Crown’s rules, and in the end they marched triumphantly over the Leipzig city center ring, the route of Leipzig’s legendary demonstrations. Mondays in the GDR.
Supporters of the “lateral thinking” movement came from all over Germany, as could be heard in the many dialects of the participants, for their next big rally against Corona policy on Saturday. Their protest began peacefully and yet they brought about the dissolution of the event with massive disregard for Corona’s rules.
As in the movement’s demonstrations in Berlin or Konstanz, right-wing extremists mingled with esotericists, conspiracy theorists, and low-key participants on Augustusplatz in central Leipzig. Some danced, sang and meditated, others waved flags related to far-right circles.
For two and a half hours, the city let the 20,000 participants – other observers took twice as long – express their dissatisfaction with the Crown’s restrictions, then the city dissolved the event and the calm until then began to change.
The police had to use massive force
The participants followed slowly, the police tried to keep the retreating self-proclaimed side thinkers away from a few hundred counter-protesters and to channel their exit. There were individual fights between participants and counter-protesters, firecrackers, rockets and smoke pots were lit, objects were thrown at the police.
There were also attacks on the press: the journalists union DJU reported at least 32 attacks on reporters at night, most of which came from “lateral thinking” participants. Police confirmed that the journalists were attacked and asked them to come forward.
Even before the demonstration, the organizers had wanted to stop the symbolic ring in the center of the city, after the dissolution, the police tried to prevent it, but eventually gave in to the tens of thousands. Police spokesman Olaf Hoppe said that only massive violence could have prevented the protesters. They wanted to avoid that, and therefore they dropped the ring. Tens of thousands of participants chanted slogans such as “Peace, freedom, not dictatorship” and “Merkel must go” as they followed the protest route of the 1989 freedom movement.
In reality, only 16,000 should have participated in the demo.
The day before, the city and the organizers had discussed the event amid the Corona crisis. The city hoped protesters would not adhere to corona pandemic protection rules. To keep the risk of infection low, the city wanted to move the event to the outskirts. However, the Higher Administrative Court of Saxony (OVG) admitted it on Saturday morning and allowed the rally on Augustusplatz, on the condition that the mask requirement was met and the number of participants did not exceed 16,000.
“The OVG put a decision on the table that was very, very difficult to implement,” said city spokesman Matthias Hasberg. Initially, the city gave the organizers time to enforce the conditions. The police even significantly expanded the meeting room at lunchtime to give participants the opportunity to keep the distance to a minimum.
However, instead of doing that, the organizers had their lawyer file a complaint. The city then carefully examined them and finally rejected them. Not only the majority of the participants violated the rules of the crown. The approved number of 16,000 participants was also clearly exceeded.
The pandemic can only be fought with common sense, not with the police
Saxon Interior Minister Roland Wöller (CDU) called it irresponsible to allow such an event in the center of Leipzig. Compliance with the rules of the crown was impossible from the beginning. “Therefore, it was correct, in view of the obvious violations, to dissolve the meeting,” Wöller said. “The corona pandemic cannot be fought with the police or with police measures, but only with everyone’s common sense.”
While the “lateral thinker” rally continued in the city center, rioters had stoned the Connewitz police station. The windows were damaged. They had only been exchanged recently, after they had already been damaged on the nights of the riots in early September. Barricades were subsequently set on fire in several streets of Connewitz.
Connection between the ‘lateral thinker’ demonstration and riots
The police arrived with a large contingent. Water cannons came from Lower Saxony. For one thing, this put out the fires. On the other hand, the police threatened to use the water cannons in the advertisements if the people in the streets did not behave peacefully. Video recordings of the vehicles were also made. A helicopter flew over the neighborhood. Police spokesman Olaf Hoppe said Sunday that police officers were injured by stone throwing. However, according to prior knowledge, none of the officials is incapacitated.
According to Hoppe, the police see a connection between the riots in Connewitz and the demonstration of “lateral thinking” in the city center of Leipzig. Some of the incidents occurred at the same time. On Friday, the district police had already come under fire after the arrest of a suspected left-wing extremist. Stones flew there too.
The “lateral thinkers” defend themselves: “We have put a clear plan”
The organizers announced that they would take legal action against the dissolution. The administrative infraction should have been determined individually for each protester, said Ballweg, who was not in Leipzig, of the dpa. “We have come up with a clear plan,” Ballweg said. Authorities had obstructed the construction of the event until the OVG’s decision. Thus, as many speaker towers could not have been built as planned, which would have straightened the crowd.
By Saturday night, the loudspeaker towers would no longer have been of any use: Tens of thousands still roamed the inner ring of the city and did not move to return home. Participants in the dissolved demonstration enthusiastically celebrated their triumph over the authorities. “Oh, how beautiful it is,” they sang as if they had just won a soccer game. The rally had finally turned into a grand crown party. (SDA)
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